This chapter is from the book

Lab 1.1 Exercises

1.1.1 Explore Photoshop's Interface

These exercises assume that you are new to Photoshop, and will open the
application and walk you around it, investigating various components on a
general level. You may have already explored like this when you first installed
the program on your computer. If that is the case, skim the exercises and
proceed to the next Lab.

Open Photoshop

Is the Navigator window (Figure 1.1) open by default when you open
Photoshop? Observe.

Perform a transformation to this image from the Menu bar. From the
Menu bar choose the Filters menu and select one of the filters listed. Observe
what happens.

Your image has been transformed by the filter, but you decide you
don't want to keep it that way. What are the two ways that you could undo
that transformation?

What do the various tabbed palettes grouped with History show you?

Now select the tool from the toolbar that looks like a little
paintbrushdo not choose the little brush with an arrow orbiting
itand make a brushstroke upon your image, not for any practical purpose on
the image but to examine the Options. After you have made the stroke,
doubleclick on the Paintbrush tool. What do the various tabbed palettes that
come up show you?

How can the Photoshop user access other palettes that appear listed
under the Window menu?

1.1.2 Explore Photoshop 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0.

Version 5.0 saw many changes from previous versions of Photoshop, welcome
additions to its range of functionality. These features appear in the later
versions of the program as well. Let us now explore some of them.

If you've worked with Photoshop extensively in the past, take a
careful look at the toolbar (Figure 1.4). Do the buttons' look and feel
appear identical to the previous versions?

Roll the cursor over the tools in the toolbar. How does the interface
now educate the novice Photoshop user?

Open "venice.psd" in Photoshop. Choose the Paintbrush icon
and make a random swipe upon the image. Choose the Pencil
icon and drag a line across the image. Choose the Eraser icon
beside it and drag over part of the image, erasing it. If you like,
make one or two other actions upon the image with any tool
of your choice.

Open the History palette by clicking on the History/Actions
palette. If it's not onscreen, choose Show History from the
Window menu in the menu bar at the top of your screen. How
can you use this function of Photoshop to remove the marks
you have made upon your image?

Suppose you are ready to save the work you performed upon a
graphic project. Open the File menu on the menu bar at the
top of your screen and choose Save for Web.What do all these
multiple images and choices presented to you mean?

Click on the little Adobe logo at the lower right bottom of the
toolbar, whose Tooltip tells you it is the Jump to command. What takes
place?